Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Well, it appears the four-letter network and MLB are butting heads again. ESPN will not be airing MLB playoff games this year, and they're not all that interested in advertising for the stations that will be. If ESPN doesn't relent, MLB will once again lay down the law by limiting access. From the Sports Business Journal:

The current dispute centers on ESPN's refusal to run on-air spots promoting postseason telecasts on Fox and TBS. This is the first time in years that ESPN will not run ads promoting playoff games on other networks, and, not coincidentally, also marks the first time since 1996 that ESPN will not have postseason baseball on its schedule.

Citing network policy, ESPN says it does not accept advertising that promotes competitive programming on other networks unless it is contractually obligated to do so - and it states that it's not obligated to under its new media deal with MLB. It says other networks have similar policies.

ESPN's decision greatly upset MLB executives, who are considering banning ESPN's "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight" studio sets from postseason venues if ESPN does not run the spots, network sources said.

Not promoting competitors' networks seems reasonable to me. But what seems really reasonable to me is ESPN refusing to air advertisements with the talentless Dane Cook spouting off random postseason memories. If people had wanted to see Cook, they would have watched "Good Luck Chuck" this weekend; and almost twice as many people opted for the implausible Resident Evil 3 movie instead. And it's not like RE3 was much of an alternative.

MLB counters by threatening to "limit access"? Hey, limiting Cook's access on ESPN is not only sound competitive strategy--it's a sound consumer strategy as well.